Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Bottle: Poured a amber color ale with a thin dissapating white head, weak aroma of wheat. Very subtle taste of spice. This won't break any record. Probably one of the weakest beer from Cheval Blanc and what a former shade of what this beer used to be a number of years ago.

Appearance - The beer pours a murky copper colour with a large frothy and fizzy beige coloured head. I can't see the carbonation because of the murkiness and there is some average lacing. The head lasted for over five minutes before it began to dissipate. There are also some small particles floating around.

Smell - banana/bubblegum, cloves, wheat

Taste & Mouth - The beer actually has quote a bit of carbonation and it comes across as slightly watery on the palette. Most of the taste is made up of bananas/bubblegum, cloves, and wheat. The beer finishes with a banana aftertaste.

Drink - A fairly decent beer that I'm happy I tried - not sure I'd buy it again though.

Peppery mouth feel from the carbonation...front is sweetish and musty with nutty-bready tones from yeast and toasted unmalted grains...later spices add complexity ( corriander?)...finish is dry and a spicy-malt after taste.

Much lighter and drinkable than the heavy Unibroue ales this is a session unfiltered ale....very decent.

Decent beer as part of a mixed 6 pack out of a grocery store in Quebec.

Hazy apricot orange colour. Moderate head that quickly settles to a thin film. Nice gentle aroma of wheat, spice and yeast. Wheat and citrus to taste, yeast not so much. Has a slightly sour bite and is maybe a bit too thin bodied, but overall easy drinking and interesting enough. Worth a try.

12 oz bottle I got at this awesome little store outside of Montreal and I can not even begin to think I can spell it correctly. Poured up in a chalice.

A: Pours a really dark orange that is almost a very light brown. The look is very cloudy and hazy. I got maybe a quarter inch of white head. The head had very little retention and almost completely disappears within about 3 minutes. Lacing is very minimal. The color is very impressive here.

S: Smell is of some nice wheat flavors. There are some very subtle belgian yeast aromas behind the wheat. Citrus fruit is the middle and heavy with orange, tangerine, and lemon. The malt is very subdued but there is just the most subtle scent of butterscotch. Pretty nice.

T: Taste is very pleasant. Lots of wheat and yeast coming out clearly. Citrus is once again the showstopper here. Lots of orange, rind, flesh and skin. Butterscotch is not there as much as it is in the nose. There is a vey nice herbal character with nice notes of coriander. There is a light caramel sweetness that sits on your lips and tongue at the finish.

M: This is a bit thin and feels watery. It also feels a bit flat but it somehow works for this beer. Very clean and actually crisp even with the flat feel. No mention of ABV and aftertaste is just a touch of sugary sweetness.

D: This beer goes down really easy and it is very sessionable. It has diversity of flavors and a bit of complexity. It is nothing crazy but it seems like this would make a great gateway brew for new folks to the craft beer scene. Nothing is too in your face. Very nice.

Pours a murky medium orange, a nice thick head of foam and a very effervecent carbonation. Aroma of wheat, honey, coriander, lemongrass and the RJ house yeast. A light body and relatively simple flavor of wheat and spice. A great ale for those hot summer days.

Appearance: pours a deep hazy orange, with a very, limited rocky head that dissipates to almost nothing. Basically zero lacing.

Aroma: some orange, some spice / coriander, slightly tangy.

Taste: very slightly metallic, a little flat tasting. Sweet orange, and some light spice. Limited, but not unpleasant. Lingering taste has very slight hints of white pepper and vanilla.

Mouth: crisp and tingly, fairly to very highly carbonated, especially for style.

Overall: drinkable, light bodied, and not amazing. Really, though, I don't see why people are trashing this beer so much. It's a pretty average Belgian-style witbier with a very slight twang. It's not amazing or huge, but neither is the style it emulates.

Cap Espoir - 12oz bottle. Pours a hazy, dull light brown. Aroma has some nice yeast to it, but it's not overly strong. Flavour also has the nice yeastiness to it, although the overall impact is too light and fades too quickly. It's a bit of a shame as this beer has a nice flavour, it's just that there's not enough to it. I think I will let this one warm up a bit more before I finish it.

341 ml bottle. According to an Internet discussion I found, this is the RJ Spéciale Rouse relabled. It is certainly close in colour and character so this is possible, but it didn't quite match my memory. The RJ website does not even mention this beer (time for them to update).

A- Cloudy light orangy-brown-amber. Fairly pale actually. Smallish off-white head. Head goes down to leave a nice ring that clings to the glass.

T- Somewhat watery. Grassy and herbal hops. Citrus and faint spice (coriander as mentioned on lable). The caramel from the smell doesn't come accross in the taste. Some yeast character (it is on lees). OK but a bit weak.

MF- Light and pleasant . A little thin and drying. OK without being great.

Appearance - Beer pours with about one finger of off-white head. The head appears to have some good volume to it as well, lacing has already started. The beer is a cloudy amber with some faint carbonation traces.

Smell - picking up some strong banana/orange zest presents as well as sweetness from caramel. There are some slight earth tones to this beer as well.

Taste - Very easy drinking beer. What you smell is what you taste! The beer is very nice on the palette offering a smooth feel. Zest and banana is what you taste as well some hints of sweetness.

Mouthfeel - carbonation really brings fwd the overall taste of this beer. There is a def amount of orange added in the taste as well, sweetness. The mouthfeel is almost velvet like, very nice.

Drinkability - This is a decent beer, one i am glad i tried, but not one i would go out to find again.

A: Very cloudy orange color. Pretty small dissapointing head that died quickly but left some lacing behind.

S: Apricots, coriander, and the typical Belgian phenolics and esters.

T: Apricot is probably the most present flavor. Coriander is also very available. A little bit of cloves are there as well. Fairly bold flavors and nothing really takes a back seat. Banana is also there. Everything provides to the balance and taste of the beer. That being said hops are not really available but that's acceptable for the style. Leaves a nice after taste.

M: Not very dry in the sense that you don't always feel yourself going back for more but what it lacks in this department it makes up for in crispness. Very crisp and bubbly on the tongue.

O: Pretty good beer. I'd happily drink another and if the prices were right I'd buy some more.

For a beer on lees this was a surprisingly tasteless affair. I was really expecting something with a more exciting taste. Instead it was an acceptable beer. Very non threatening but not interesting. It was a dark amber and went down very readily but I would have enjoyed water about as much. When I drink a beer on lees I want to experience some of those exciting yeast flavas. Where did they all go? How did they get out of the bottle? For a real treat try Coup de Grisou from the same brewery.

New beer from RJ, or is it a newly packaged version of one of their standards? Very reminescent of Unibroue packaging with foil covered crown and an artistic label that seems to want to tell a story. The beer within is cloudy and caramel coloured with an initially frothy head of sandy foam that dissipates too quickly unfortunately.

The aromas are gentle and pleasant with a spicy complex of malts and fruit that revolves around a creamy yeastiness. Wheat is quite perceptible up front as are the citrucy notes and, of course, the coriander. But none really dominates the other and a balance is achieved that renders this beer characterful but not overwhelming.

The flavours are equally gentle, but the wheat takes center stage this time as a gentle tartness and sunny citrus character always seem to hover over the spice and yeast. The finish is rather dry and the same tartness noticed up front fades slowly leaving behind a clean palate.

This is not a revelation, nor is it a novelty on Quebec's shelves but it is a well executed wheat beer (I don't agree with its categorization as a belgian pale ale as there is no bitterness and the wheat character really surfaces in the flavours) that will serve very well as a mid-afternoon quaffer on a St-Denis street terrace or as an accompaniement to a light summer meal, or even as one of many crossover beers for those wanting to leave behind the macro scene.

Strong citrus notes and a load of banana esther. Lots of bubbliness to the mouthfeel. Malty with a nice bittersweet finish. The label advertises butterscotch and coriander but my untrained palate only picks up the latter.